Search Engine Optimisation & Marketing

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the quantity and/or quality of visitors to a website that are referred by natural search engine results pages (as opposed to paid listings i.e. Google Adwords). SEO is considered to be one of the most important resources available in marketing on the Web. If your target market uses the web to search for your products and services, SEO can provide a long-term source of highly targeted visitors.

Search
Engine Optimisation process differ from company to company. You should be aware that there are good SEO practises and bad SEO practises. Companies that promise quick results and use the term 'millions' a lot, 'millions of search engines', 'millions of links', are most likely to be SEO operators to avoid (called Black Hat SEOs in the industry).

The consequences of short-term gains via Black Hat tactics can be extreme – removal of your website from the search engine's database! BMW and Ricoh Germany are high profile examples of companies that have been stricken from Google search results due to Black Hat SEO practises. Both companies apologised and fixed the offending pages on their websites and managed to be included again. Repairing Black Hat SEO and liaising with the search engines to get re-listed can be a long and stressful task.

Does Your Website Need Search Engine Optimisation?

Not all business websites need search engine optimisation. Whether your business can benefit from SEO depends on how your target market behaves when the individuals responsible for procuring are in the market for your products or services. Do they use the Internet to do any preliminary research? Do they use the Internet to research potential suppliers? Do they search for product reviews or cheapest prices? If there's a "Yes" in there, your business can benefit from SEO.

Even if you believe your business would not benefit from website search engine optimisation, at the very minimum your website should turn up on page 1 of the results when a search for your business name is done. People who search for a business by name usually have a good reason to get in contact.

Search Engine Optimisation for Marketing

When a website has been optimised well for the search engines, referrals from the search engines become an important source of new business. However the search engine companies can make unannounced changes to the algorithms that rank webpages against search terms. Sometimes this can result in fewer referrals, or worse, no referrals. It is prudent then to not become over reliant on search engine referrals. SEO should be considered as a part of a diverse marketing mix.

SEO for Reducing Traffic?

Sometimes SEO is applied to reduce traffic. Well not to reduce it exactly – in refining the visitors attracted to your site to be closer to the target the market, this can result in a reduction of visitors! However in combination with sales optimisation, the net result is generating more business. Generating more business is the real reason for wanting SEO, not necessarily the highest ranks for 'widget sales' or most search result visits to the site.

Converting New Visitors to Customers

Search Engine Optimisation isn't the only optimisation required for business websites. When the influx of new visitors arrive, the website must include a strategy for converting them into solid leads or sales. The number of visitors compared to sales/enquiries is called the Conversion Ratio. The process of improving your website's conversion ratio is called Sales Optimisation. Out of all the times you've been contacted about SEO services, how often is improving the sales potential of your website mentioned? Unless your web site was designed by or directed by somebody with marketing training, chances are there's a contact form buried some place on your website and this is the "sales strategy".

ROI

Refinement and reporting completes the optimisation mix. It takes a few months to see a decent SEO
plan come to fruition. This time is spent monitoring traffic, tweaking site SEO and analysing results. Accountability for your investment is important. Up to date reports are the key to repeating success and our reports
will give you that information. When the company sales take-off, you have the information
to give to your CEO to get all the credit.

Search Engine Optimisation Services at v2Media

v2Media SEO and website promotion tactics are all above board. We don't take risks that could result in penalties from the search engines. The SEO work that we carry out on your website can be found on the webmaster guidelines at the search engines' websites.

Dodgy tactics may show short term results, but they also carry dire consequences
for your business. Your website can be blacklisted for participating in very shady
schemes such as new directory "link farms". If blacklisted, your Website
and your business will suffer terribly though lack of search engine referrals.

Client SEO Exclusivity (Conflicting Interests)

If v2Media optimises your website for the search engines, what happens if one of your competitors calls us for the same service?

When you contract v2Media for SEO services, you have a choice of paying for an exclusive service or a non-exclusive service. An exclusive service means that v2Media will not accept SEO proposals from direct competitors in your industry and or geographic location. Non-exclusive is the opposite, we will accept proposals from your competitors after your project is completed and results delivered.

The reason for exclusive and non-exclusive SEO services is simple. If our SEO services were exclusive by default, v2Media would eventually run out of work when we have clients across all industries.

The premium for our exclusive SEO services is 40% of the initial cost of your project paid annually. Whilst you are paying the premium, v2Media will not optimise a website that competes with yours. This premium compensates v2Media for potential work lost for SEO services in your industry or geographic location.